Hello Everyone,
Ok so I have a problem I was driving my k5 to work this morning and I came up on some slow moving traffic so when I had an opportunity to pass I downshifted to 3rd and got around the vehicle in a timely manner but when I went to shift back into 4th the shifter was stuck in gear. I was almost to work so I just cruised in 3rd. I've already pulled the shifter and tried lining up the shifter gates with a bar but it is stuck. I also pulled one of the PTO covers off and everything seems to be in place. I also tried removing the cover but I can't get the cover off without putting the tower part way into reverse which won't happen if it's in 3rd At least that I can think of. So to my question, is there any way to remove the shift tower with it jammed in gear? I honestly believe it's something with the shift tower detents.

If the problem is in the shift tower You should be able to move the gears to neutral & slide reverse gear halfway in. Do you have pressure off the drive shaft. Block the wheels & put the clutch in.
George

I had the transfer case in neutral and the clutch in when trying to shift the tower and the rails are bound none will move but the trans rolls smooth no binding with the pedal pressed in and no obvious slop in the shafts

Ok so an update I was able to get the shift tower off. And it isn't stuck like I had originally thought the shift collar for 3rd & 4th gear is stuck on 3rd it's free floating but won't slide back to neutral

The towers are not hard to work on. Just watch for a little pin inside the rails. They fall out & get lost easily. There is a steel ball between each 2 rails. When one rail is shifted the ball pushes the pin & ball on the other side preventing the other rail from shifting into a gear. There are steel balls with a spring behind them above each rail. These balls pop into a groove in the rail giving it the detent effect. Often one of these springs are broken & the shifter will move easily with out any resistance from the detent.
If all that makes sense you are good.

The towers are not hard to work on. Just watch for a little pin inside the rails. They fall out & get lost easily. There is a steel ball between each 2 rails. When one rail is shifted the ball pushes the pin & ball on the other side preventing the other rail from shifting into a gear. There are steel balls with a spring behind them above each rail. These balls pop into a groove in the rail giving it the detent effect. Often one of these springs are broken & the shifter will move easily with out any resistance from the detent.
If all that makes sense you are good.

George

Yes I understand that and thank you. but it ended up not being the tower but the collar in the trans is stuck

Yes I understand that and thank you. but it ended up not being the tower but the collar in the trans is stuck

have you been having trouble with it falling out of 3rd gear ? if so you have a bad synchronizer I ran a 87 c30 rollback for over 400k and rite at each 100k they would need to be replaced .as with the front bearing also being replaced . it sounds like this may be your problem .